Prelude to a new Era
by BlueNightOwl
Summary: Alternate Universe - Scar lived through the fight over Pride Rock and months later managed to find his dear former mate Zira and her little Pride. Discovering that the twin cubs aren't his he attempts to bring the lionesses back under his control. While he thinks himself successful he is blind to the intrigues spun by the lionesses themselves.
1. Chapter 1

Well, hello there. This here is my first Lion King Fanfiction. I really enjoy writing it and I hope that you will enjoy it, too.  
I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.

 **General Warnings:** 1\. This story includes forms of child abuse, both mental and physical, because Zira's training simply cannot have been her sitting there and cheering her kids on to do better than an imaginary foe, I will try to keep it down as much as possible, but it will be there - if you cannot handle that please do yourself the favour and do not read this fanfiction.  
2\. Nuka has been gender swaped for this story, because the story would play out very differently and be much darker than I want it to be if I kept him as he was and would probalbly not have the ending I have in mind for this story. - Perhaps I will one day write that story but right now I do not think I can do it justice.

Please note that english is not my mother tounge so please know that should you find any errors I would be happy to correct them.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

It was still dark when the young cub woke up. The pain in his paws and muscles had prevented him from falling into a deep sleep and actually woke him up now. He looked around tiredly wishing not for the first time that his mother wasn't so obsessed with his training. Spotting his oldest sister near the middle of the cave, right next to the old King, he gave a silent sigh.

Oh, how he wished he could have her life. No training – well no physical training, old King Scar was making sure his sister learned how to hunt and behave like the princess she was, which was something both he and Vitani still had problems with wrapping their heads around.

The King had once said that Aushi might be the oldest but that she was a female and as such not eligible for the throne, but as she was his daughter and therefore a princess she had to be taught how to act.

Vitani was the middle child and a female, too, but strangely enough the old King excluded her from the training Aushi was getting, despite her being another princess. He did remember the looks his mother and his father had exchanged over this decision, his mother had looked strangely cowed.

He, Kovu, was the last one of the former King's children. A male and therefore the next in line for the throne once they had won back the Pridelands. However King Scar was not teaching him right now. Not how to run a kingdom, not even stories that told him how the old King had once ruled with an iron-paw. No, the old King had delegated the task of preparing him for his eventual takeover to his mother.

When he had asked the old King why he taught Aushi the old lion had actually laughed into his face. What he taught his daughter was all that peaceful, useless Circle of Life crap. He told the young cub that he taught Aushi how to walk, talk and think like a Pridelander lioness, because she was an ugly reminder of his mother and his grand-mother.

Afterwards the old lion had started to ramble about some lions called Ahadi and Mufasa... Kovu didn't understand the old lion but thought that he might be going insane and thus left him to talk to himself. He hadn't spoken to the former King since then.

His mother was simply accepting what King Scar was ordering. That was another thing that bothered him greatly, his mother kept accepting and complying no matter what the mad lion said or what he ordered her to do. Like when he organized the hunting party to his eldest daughter's needs – Aushi was a surprisingly large, muscular lioness for her age and needed to be accompanied by swifter, more agile lionesses. His father made it so that Haraka, Kucha and Jua were always on hunting duty with her. Before his return his mother would have pitched a fit and ordered Aushi to lion up and deal with whatever other huntresses she saw fit to accompany her. It also would usually mean that Aushi had to hunt with a group of lionesses that didn't balance each other out resulting in enormous hunting failures which would then be blamed on Aushi alone.

But no, his mother had nodded her head like an obedient little servant and had not interfered with anything. The very same way she had later accepted that old Hazina was now of a higher rank than her and that Aushi would be the one to lead the hunting parties once they returned to the Pridelands. Seeing his mother so silent and obedient, even if this happened only in the old King's presence, was strange and unsettling.

He sighed again and tried to get into a more comfortable position. He would never admit it out loud but he missed his tree-stump, that thing was very comfortable and warmed easier that the ground he was now sleeping on, sadly he had gotten too big for it.

Shifting onto his other side he could see Vitani snoring away peacefully between Madoa and Pua. He both envied her and he didn't. On one paw she was off of their father's radar, there was absolutely no training necessary for her, her father was allowing her to play, to explore, to just be a cub so long as she didn't disturb him. On the other paw she now had to bear the brunt of their mother's ill attitude. Whatever grudges she didn't express with their father, Hazina or her eldest daughter, she now took out on Vitani. It had gone so far that his sister refused to sleep next to her. Their father didn't do anything about the situation and simply let it play out.

And he, himself? Well, he wasn't sleeping anywhere near their mother either anymore, he had lied to her and told her that the King had told him that a strong king was able to sleep by himself. He hadn't seen her smile that brightly in moons and had almost felt guilty of lying to her when she had practically bragged to Taarifu about how their beloved King had finally given her little darling Kovu his first titbit of advice on how to be a mighty king. Almost.

Kovu gave a final sigh, feeling that the exhaustion would now be able to outweigh the pain he was in from all the training he had done earlier, and curled in on himself. There had been so many changes since his father had come back to them: Aushi and Hazina had risen in rank tremendously, Vitani had practically been disowned by their father, his training had been delegated to his mother completely – the pride wasn't allowed to help her in any capacity – and his mother had apparently lost her status as the Queen. She had been booted to the lowest rank this pride had to offer and he had the feeling that the longer his father lived the less likely it would be for his mother to rise to power again and he still didn't know why.

Shortly before falling asleep a sudden thought entered his foggy mind and he strained his neck to take another look at where his father lay and his two favourite lionesses: Hazina and his eldest daughter Aushi. With everything that had occurred recently... the small lion swallowed, he could only hope that Hazina was too old for cubs now and that his sister didn't find a rogue to mate with, otherwise his own position as the crown-prince might not be as safe and sure as he had thought so far.

His head fell back down, he was too tired to hold it up anymore and he finally closed his tired eyes falling asleep easily. There would be no dreams for him tonight.

* * *

And done. I hope you liked it so far.  
Please give me your thoughts.

BlueNightOwl out.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again. I hope all of you are doing well.  
Let's get this started.

I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Waking up went about as well as it could given her current circumstances. Neither Madoa nor Pua had drooled on her or squashed her during the night, she had had no nightmares and her mother wasn't screaming at her to get up. All in all a pretty good morning.

Vitani yawned widely and glanced around. She noted that Hazina and her older sister were still asleep next to her fath... next to the King.

She was no fool, no matter what the other lionesses and her mother seemed to think, she knew that King Scar was neither hers nor Kovu's father. Her mother had mated with another male while she was his Queen. She had overheard the rather loud conversation her mother had had with the King after he had practically disowned her – read: she had followed them and heard every single accusation of the King and her mother admitting to the infidelity.

Truth to be told, she had no idea how the King had caught onto her mother, after all Kovu looked almost exactly like him and she herself looked a lot like her mother. Furthermore she couldn't tell how the old King could be sure that Aushi actually was his daughter, seeing that his mate had already betrayed him once.

That and her sister looked like a female Simba with a reddish-golden pelt and their mother's black nose.

The cub liked her lips. She needed a drink, but going alone was forbidden. Perhaps Hazina... No, no getting involved with the King's new head-lioness; that was bound to end in disaster.

Jua or Kucha then, those two could drink up the entire river in the morning, and while they were her sisters BFFs it would not look the least as though she was trying to get back into the King's good graces. They were Aushi's friends and not his concubines, and she was Aushi's thirsty little half-sister that just wanted to get a drink and asked them to come with her. Perfect.

Vitani stretched lazily and got up, padding softly towards the two lionesses she wanted to accompany her. Gently batting at Jua's ear she kept an eye on her mother's sleeping form. This could take a while.

Having overheard her mother's conversation with the old King she wasn't surprised in the slightest when her mother lost the title of Queen and the high rank she once held. Truth to be told she was surprised that Scar let her mother, her brother and herself stay, because from what she had heard the former King of the Pridelands had once had a lioness killed for bearing the cub of a rogue. Then again Haraka wasn't the most reliable of sources.

What had her completely puzzled however was the fact that Scar let Kovu keep his title and his position as the heir to the throne and didn't say a single word about her mother's betrayal to the pride. She chewed on her lip and gave Jua's ear another gentle batting.

What was the old King planning? Surely he wasn't trying to have Aushi and Kovu mate, right? They were at least half-siblings, that would be ... urgh!

Suddenly Jua gave a snort, a sign that she was starting to wake up. Good thing that she was no mother, her reaction-times were terrible! Vitani gave that ear another bat, a bit harder this time, she wanted to be out of the cave before her mother had the chance to decide that her younger daughter needed to be "trained" some more.

She stole another glance at the ex-king and the two lionesses next to him. Perhaps he let Kovu have the heir-status until he had another male cub to give it to, one from which he knew without a doubt that it would be his and Aushi... was he training her secretly so that she could rule and teach her own new brother until he was ready should the King not live long enough?

The blue-eyed cub knew that the former King didn't have many moons left in him, his wounds from his battle against the usurper had healed badly and he had lost both his right ear and his entire tail. He was limping and it was a miracle that he had survived until he had found them again.

At least that was what bother her mother and Taarifu had discussed one evening.

"Vitani?" came the tired voice of the one she was attempting to wake "What is it?" a yawn "By the lioness in the moon it's still dark outside."

"I am thirsty and you are going to accompany me to the watering hole." She said, sitting in front of Jua's snout.

"Bossy, aren't we?" the older lioness gave another yawn. "You are more than capable of going to the watering hole by yourself."

A small face took on a grumpy expression. "That's forbidden and you know it."

The older one snorted "It is forbidden for cubs and you and Kovu hardly qualify for cubs anymore. Heck you are both more than a year old now."

"Mother will have my tail and your head if she hears about you trying to get me to go get a drink on my own." That earned her another, inelegant snort "Zira doesn't scare me anymore, cubby. In fact Zira doesn't scare anyone anymore."

"Yes she does!" "She doesn't cubby. Aushi and Hazina have more sway than her. Thinking about it, even Pua and Taarifu have more of a say in this pride than your mother does. And isn't that a shame? She went from being the Queen to a lowly pridesister faster than it took good old Queen Sarabi."

The younger lioness puffed up at the taunt. "Take that back. My mother still has rank, she still has a say in pride-matters." She knew it wasn't true, yet she still argued. It was more of a childish-reflex than anything else, really.

Another, lower snort came from beside Jua. "No, she hasn't. Face it cubby your mother's days of screaming us into submission are over." Kucha chimed in, eyes still closed. "But I'll tell you what: We take you to the watering hole and you stop being so loud. Wouldn't want to wake the King or your mother, would you?"

Face still contorted in light anger Vitani quickly shook her head no. Anything, but the King and her mother awake at this time of the day.

"Good." And the dark furred lioness stretched herself, yawned and got up. "Then let's go. Aushi, Jua, Haraka and I are going to be out hunting the rest of the day and I would like to get some more hours of sleep before we have to go."

"Besides," the lighter coloured grown lioness pointed out "while your mother lost her position of power her yelling remains a pain in the tail. She is loud and I swear Ulimi, may the lions of the past watch over her poor soul, went deaf at some point due to all the screaming."

Together the three lionesses left the cave and went too to watering hole. All three of them were hoping that good, old Zira would still be asleep by the time they returned, all three of them for different reasons.

* * *

And done. I hope you liked it.  
Your thoughts are always welcome.

BlueNightOwl out.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again. I hope all of you are doing well.  
Thank you for reviewing. Now let's get this show on the road.

I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

His day started like every other day: in inconceivable pain. Some may claim him to be lucky, would say that he may have lost the battle with his nephew, a fight with Shenzi and about a third of her clan but he walked away alive. Scar would have to disagree, however, he lived yes, but the price for his life was cruel: at some point Shenzi had gotten a hold of his right ear and torn it off completely, another hyena had snapped off half of his tail and a third had bitten the joint of his left hind leg so badly it had gone stiff.  
The sad rest of his tail he had lost later on to a crocodile. He didn't know if it was hungry or just angry, those things were always hard to determine with these dumb beasts.

There were scars of claw and bite marks all over him!

Not to forget his tumble down the side of Pride Rock; he had had an unlucky landing and as a result he hurt his back badly. He was always in pain because of it, every move he made caused pain, it never stopped. Even lying too long in the same position was bound to wake him up from the pain it caused him.

To say that he wanted that pain to stop would be an understatement, but he knew the only way it would stop would be to die. And he didn't want to die. He wanted to live as long as he could, he wanted his kingdom back and to rule it again.

Reality clubbed him over the head in regular intervals however. Usually in the form of cruel pain waking up from his dreams of revenge or his ex-mates voice trying to persuade him into naming a cub that wasn't even his own his heir.  
Oh, he knew of her cheating on him. He had never expected her to love him, he didn't love her either after all, but he had expected her to be loyal to him, to remain faithful.

Aushi – stupid, useless female that she was – was his, there was no denying that. Her pelt a reddish-golden hue he had last seen with his mother. The overly large muzzle – a trait she shared with her dead uncle and grandfather. Same with her rather muscular build, it might not be his build exactly but it stemmed from his side of her gene-pool. It was remarkably similar to his own grandmother's. Theoretically she could have inherited her eye-colour and the shape of her nose from Zira, but in his humble opinion the only thing his daughter truly got from her mother was the dorsal stripe that started at the back of her head and ended between her shoulder blades.

Aushi was a dead ringer for both Queen Uru and Queen Hashiki and that alone was the reason he had decided to give her training and tried to shape her into a lioness his mother and his grandmother would take pride in calling their granddaughter or great-granddaughter respectively.

Walking, talking and thinking like a Pridelander lioness, the Circle of Life and diplomacy was what he was teaching her, at least that's what he let the rest of the pride believe. The lioness in the moon forbid that Zira ever found out about the other lessons Aushi was getting! He would never hear the end of it! That female would yap and yell until he either gave in and started teaching Kovu or until he slipped up and gave away all of his plans. And truth to be told that might be his undoing: he was in no condition to defend himself against his former mate and her questionable obsession with him was the only reason he was still alive. Driving her into a mad rage simply would not do for his continued "health".  
Teaching Aushi in secret had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to have his only child capable of taking the throne once Kovu – the annoying little furball – had finally finished Simba off. Absolutely nothing!

The former king stretched carefully, trying not to overtax his muscles doing so. It was a shame, really, that Kovu wasn't his. The cub had his handsome looks and would surely develop the strength to make a fine king. He wasn't all that sure of the young-one's intelligence though, the cub had yet to show that he could think for himself. Zira yelling the boy into submission every single day would be of absolutely no help to that either, she was teaching him to follow and not to think on his own. That would not do for a king in training as for a king it was vital to think and make decisions of their own. His ex-mate was practically beating that out of the cub.

Not that he cared; the boy wasn't his and would never have the throne. Sure he let Zira and the rest of the pride believe that Kovu was still the one chosen to succeed him but that was to avoid the scheming of his former mate. If Zira actually put her mind to it right now she would be faster back in power than Scar could say "Buffalo". At the moment she believed that she was being punished for her infidelity by having Vitani removed completely from the royal family and her herself being stripped of her queen title.

He let her believe that if he saw that she trained Kovu properly for his role as king he would take her back and make her his queen again. That she would be back and that Hazina and Aushi would again be simple pride sisters once they served their roles as Kovu's mentors.

The black maned lion didn't plan on taking Zira back in any way, shape or form. She had given him Aushi, yes, but then she had gone behind his back and had gotten it on with her cub-hood-sweetheart. He would let her two brats live and the two would serve either Aushi and her sons or the boy-cub Hazina was sure to give him once he had ensured that Zira would never again get into a position of power.

That would take a while longer. The other lionesses had to get to the point where they would stand up to Zira themselves without fear and actually make her submit. That was also a reason he wasn't doing anything about the way she treated her own son. It was a small test to see whether or not he could denounce Kovu as his heir. Only if they had her under their paws would it be safe for him to do so and have another set of cubs with Hazina. The older female had already agreed to breed with him and he thought that she was even excided at the idea of having a couple of cubs to take care of. There was that glint in her eyes and a wide smile on her muzzle when she agreed.

He had also already heard her talking to Aushi about it and his child seemed happy. That lessened the probability of his then male offspring dying a horrible death at the paws of his sister at a great degree. She would also act as a shield against her own mother then. It would be perfect.

Carefully manoeuvring around the lionesses still sleeping in the cave the pride's lead male went outside. Cool mornings were like a balm to most of his still sensitive scars so he enjoyed them.

All he had to do now was wait, wait for his loyal subjects to become loyal to Hazina and Aushi and to disregard Zira as a potential pride-leader. If everything went the way he wanted them to go they would even cast Zira out themselves.

But it needed to happen soon, he was no fool his time in this world was limited. He might not feel it right now but he knew that he had perhaps another six to ten moons left and in that time Zira's influence had to be annulled, Hazina and Aushi needed to become the unquestioned leaders of the pride and he needed to sire at least one son with Hazina. Should he not manage the last point he needed to make sure that Aushi understood that she was only to lead until one of her own sons was old enough to do so, she was only a lowly female after all.

Perhaps it was time to step up his game and make sure that the lionesses started to defend the poor little twin cubs. The old lion smirked. The stinking little bastards had a use after all.

* * *

And done. I hope you liked it.  
Your thoughts are always welcome.

BlueNightOwl out.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello again. I hope all of you are doing well.  
Let's get this started.

I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

The light of the early morning woke her up, as it did every morning since Scar had decided that she was to sleep at the entrance of the cave, far away from him. She yawned and then stretched purposefully; today would be another day she could prove to Scar that she was fit to be his queen.

Her beloved had found out, somehow, that Kovu and Vitani were not his and had decided that she needed to be punished for daring to bring him cubs that weren't his. She understood, she really did, but how was she supposed to give him a proper heir if he punished her like this!

Deciding that Kovu could do with another hour or two of sleep the ex-queen went outside to groom herself. Her little darling would need every single hour of sleep he could get now later on. She couldn't have him failing her during his training.

Initially she had been surprised that Scar had denounced Vitani but not Kovu, that he kept him as his heir, but then she had understood. Her Scar was such a fiendishly clever lion! He wanted to test her. He wanted to see if she was still worthy of being his mate, of being his queen!

Years ago he had decided that she was worthy of bearing him cubs and she had disappointed him once already, by giving him Aushi – a beautiful, strong female. And that was the problem: she had given him a female. He needed a son, a male to teach and train!

He had generously given her a second chance to bear him a son and what had she done? – She had run into her old cub-hood crush while out on a hunt and let him seduce her. Not only had she disappointed him by bearing another female and only one son, but she had gone and dared to present him with cubs that weren't his flesh and blood!

Telling him had never been an option, he would have send her and her little ones away and taken another lioness as his queen. That was her position! The other lionesses weren't worthy of either Scar or the title of Queen!

She still didn't know how he managed to find out that the twins weren't his; Kovu was the spitting image of him and Vitani looked like the perfect combination of them. The colour of her nose and her eyes could have been inherited by one of her grandparents after all.  
Furthermore she had made sure not to speak to any other lioness about her infidelity. The only other lionesses that had seen Maanani were her loyal subjects. None of them would dare tell on her, of that she was sure. Besides, none of them had seen their coupling, Maanani had made sure of that, under the pretence of not wanting a pride-male to sniff him out and beat him up, but that had been ok as it served her as well.

So when he found out of course he would denounce her. As much as she loved her daughter she knew that Scar had no use for female offspring. He only tolerated and taught Aushi because he needed someone to teach his heir once his soul went to the sky and the Great Kings of the past.  
Her beloved Scar had told her that she was responsible for Kovu's physical fitness, to train him to take back the throne, while Aushi and Hazina would later teach him what he needed to know about ruling and act as his advisers.

He had ordered, in front of the entire pride, that Vitani never be anything other than a simple pride-sister and a huntress. She herself would be nothing more than the lowest ranking pride-sister until further notice.  
The price for her infidelity was steep, but at least her beloved had accepted her son as his heir, and who knew, perhaps when she was diligent enough in Kovu's training and managed to impress him enough she would even be granted permission to try and give him the son he deserved. Kovu would still make a good bodyguard in that case.

She stopped her grooming when saw the shape of three lions some distance away, apparently walking towards her as the shapes became bigger. Her muscles tensed and her eyes narrowed. Were those rogues or lions from another pride? – No, those were Aushi's annoyances and Vitani.

Zira tried to force herself to relax. The two adult lionesses were to hunt later and Vitani had nothing to do but play. A snarl formed on her muzzle. Playing – pah! Who did the brat think she was? She would make sure that Vitani was trained together with Kovu today. Perhaps if she showed Scar that she could turn even Vitani into an asset he would consider shortening her punishment and make her his Queen again. Yes, that would do.

When the younger lionesses reached screaming range she hollered for her daughter. "VITANI! GET YOUR TAIL OVER HERE IMMEDIATELY! YOU ARE GOING TO TRAIN TODAY!"

She watched as her daughter flinched and growled. This wasn't good. A soldier that flinched at their commander's voice showed fear, and a good soldier never showed fear. She would have to beat that out of her daughter, if she wanted her to be useful. That might take some time, but in the end it might just be what she needed to get back into Scar's good graces.

* * *

And done. I hope you liked it.  
Your thoughts are always welcome.

BlueNightOwl out.


End file.
